1434 The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance Gavin Menzies This book is dedicated to my beloved wife, Marcella, who has traveled with me on the journeys related in this book and through life Contents Introduction I Setting the Scene A Last Voyage The Emperor’s Ambassador The Fleets are Prepared for the Voyage to the Barbarians Zheng He’s Navigators’ Calculation of Latitude and Longitude Voyage to the Red Sea Cairo and the Red Sea–nile Canal II China Ignites the Renaissance To the Venice of Niccolò Da Conti Paolo Toscanelli’s Florence Toscanelli Meets the Chinese Ambassador 10 Columbus’s and Magellan’s World Maps 11 The World Maps of Johannes Schöner, Martin Waldseemüller, and Admiral Zheng He Photographic Insert 12 Toscanelli’s New astronomy 13 The Florentine Mathematicians: Toscanelli, Nicholas of Cusa, and Regiomontanus 14 Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo Da Vinci 15 Leonardo Da Vinci and Chinese Inventions Photographic Insert 16 Leonardo, Di Giorgio, Taccola, and Alberti 17 Silk and Rice 18 Grand Canals: China and Lombardy 19 Firearms and Steel 20 Printing 21 China’s Contribution to the Renaissance III China’s Legacy 22 Tragedy on the High Seas: Zheng He’s Fleet Destroyed by a Tsunami Photographic Insert 23 The Conquistadores’ Inheritance: Our Lady of Victory Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Permissions Photograph Credits Searchable Terms About the Author Other Books by Gavin Menzies Credits Copyright About the Publisher INTRODUCTION One thing that greatly puzzled me when writing 1421 was the lack of curiosity among many professional historians After all, Christopher Columbus supposedly discovered America in 1492 Yet eighteen years before he set sail, Columbus had a map of the Americas, which he later acknowledged in his logs Indeed, even before his first voyage, Columbus signed a contract with the king and queen of Spain that appointed him viceroy of the Americas His fellow ship’s captain Martín Alonso Pinzón, who sailed with him in 1492, had too seen a map of the Americas—in the pope’s library How you discover a place for which you already have a map? The same question could be asked of Magellan The strait that connects the Atlantic to the Pacific bears the great Portuguese explorer’s name When Magellan reached that strait in 1520, he had run out of food and his sailors were reduced to eating rats Worse, they were convinced they were lost Esteban Gómez led a mutiny, seizing the San Antonio with the intent to lead part of the expedition back to Spain Magellan quashed the mutiny by claiming he was not at all lost A member of the crew wrote, “We all believed that [the Strait] was a cul-de-sac; but the captain knew that he had to navigate through a very well-concealed strait, having seen it in a chart preserved in the treasury of the king of Portugal, and made by Martin of Bohemia, a man of great parts.”1 Why was the strait named after Magellan when Magellan had seen it on a chart before he set sail? It doesn’t make sense The paradox might be explained had there been no maps of the strait or of the Pacific—if, as some believe, Magellan was bluffing about having seen a chart But there were maps Martin Waldseemüller published his map of the Americas and the Pacific in 1507, twelve years before Magellan set sail In 1515, four years before Magellan sailed, Johannes Schöner published a map showing the strait Magellan is said to have “discovered.” The mystery only deepens when we consider the two cartographers, Waldseemüller and Schöner Were these two hoary old sea captains who had made heroic voyages across the Pacific before Magellan? Should we rename the strait after Schöner? Hardly Schöner never went to sea He flunked his exams at the University of Erfurt, leaving without a degree He became an apprentice priest in 1515 but for failing to celebrate mass, was relegated to a small village, where his punishment was officiating at early-morning mass So how did a young man from rural Germany with no maritime tradition produce a map of the Pacific well before Magellan discovered that ocean? Like Schöner, Waldseemüller had never seen the sea Born in Wolfenweiler near Freiberg in 1475, he spent his working life as a cannon at Saint-Dié in eastern France—a region famed for its plums but completely devoid of maritime tradition Waldseemüller, too, left university without a degree Yet his map of the Americas showed the Sierra Madre of Mexico and the Sierra Nevada of North America before Magellan reached the Pacific or Balboa reached its coast These two rustic mapmakers were not the only Europeans with an uncanny prescience about unseen lands In 1419, before European voyages of exploration even began, Albertin di Virga published a map of the Eastern Hemisphere that shows northern Australia It was another 350 years before Captain Cook “discovered” that continent Similarly, Brazil appeared on Portuguese maps before the first Portuguese, Cabral and Dias, set sail for Brazil The South Shetland Islands were shown on the Piri Reis map four hundred years before Europeans reached the Antarctic The great European explorers were brave and determined men But they discovered nothing Magellan was not the first to circumnavigate the globe, nor was Columbus the first to discover the Americas So why, we may ask, historians persist in propagating this fantasy? Why is The Times Atlas of World Exploration, which details the discoveries of European explorers, still taught in schools? Why are the young so insistently misled? After 1421 was published, we set up our website, www.1421.tv, which has since received millions of visitors Additionally we have received hundreds of thousands of e-mails from readers of 1421, many bringing new evidence to our attention Of the criticism we’ve received, the most frequent complaint has concerned my failure to describe the Chinese fleets’ visits to Europe when the Renaissance was just getting under way Two years ago, a Chinese Canadian scholar, Tai Peng Wang, discovered Chinese and Italian records showing beyond a doubt that Chinese delegations had reached Italy during the reigns of Zhu Di (1403–1424) and the Xuan De emperor (1426–1435) Naturally, this was of the greatest interest to me and the research team Shortly after Tai Peng Wang’s 2005 discovery, my wife, Marcella, and I set off with friends for Spain For a decade, we’ve enjoyed holidays with this same group of friends, traveling to seemingly inaccessible places—crossing the Andes, Himalayas, Karakorams, and Hindu Kush, voyaging down the Amazon, journeying to the glaciers of Patagonia and the high Altiplano of Bolivia In 2005 we walked the Via de la Plata from Seville, from where the conquistadores sailed to the New World, north to their homeland of Extremadura Along the way, we visited the towns in which the conquistadores were born and raised One of these was Toledo, painted with such bravura by El Greco Of particular interest to me were the medieval pumps by which this fortified mountain town drew its water from the river far below On a lovely autumn day, we walked uphill to the great cathedral that dominates Toledo and the surrounding countryside We dumped our bags in a small hotel built into the cathedral walls and set off to explore In a neighboring Moorish palace there was an exhibition dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci and his Madrid codices, focusing on his pumps, aqueducts, locks, and canals—all highly relevant to Toledo The exhibit contained this note: “Leonardo embarked upon a thorough analysis of waterways The encounter with Francesco di Giorgio in Pavia in 1490 was a decisive moment in Leonardo’s training, a turning point Leonardo planned to write a treatise on water.” This puzzled me I had been taught that Leonardo had designed the first European canals and locks, that he was the first to illustrate pumps and fountains So what relevant training had he received from Francesco di Giorgio, a name completely unknown to me? My research revealed that Leonardo had owned a copy of di Giorgio’s treatise on civil and military machines In the treatise, di Giorgio had illustrated and described a range of astonishing machines, many of which Leonardo subsequently reproduced in three-dimensional drawings The illustrations were not limited to canals, locks, and pumps; they included parachutes, submersible tanks, and machine guns as well as hundreds of other machines with civil and military applications This was quite a shock It seemed Leonardo was more illustrator than inventor and that the greater genius may have resided in di Giorgio Was di Giorgio the original inventor of these fantastic machines? Or did he, in turn, copy them from another? I learned that di Giorgio had inherited notebooks and treatises from another Italian, Mariano di Jacopo ditto Taccola (called Taccola: “the Crow”) Taccola was a clerk of public works living in Siena Having never seen the sea or fought a battle, he nevertheless managed to draw a wide variety of nautical machines—paddle-wheeled boats, frogmen, and machines for lifting wrecks, together with a range of gunpowder weapons, even an advanced method of making gunpowder and designing a helicopter It seems Taccola was responsible for nearly every technical illustration that di Giorgio and Leonardo had later improved upon So, once again, we confront our familiar puzzle: How did a clerk in a remote Italian hill town, a man who had never traveled abroad or obtained a university education, come to produce technical illustrations of such amazing machines? This book attempts to answer that and a few related riddles In doing so, we stumble upon the map of the Americas that Taccola’s contemporary Paolo Toscanelli sent to both Christopher Columbus and the king of Portugal, in whose library Magellan encountered it Like 1421, this book is a collective endeavor that never would have been written without the help of thousands of people across the world I not claim definitive answers to every riddle This is a work in progress Indeed, I hope readers will join us in the search for answers and share them with us—as so many did in response to 1421 However, before we meet the Chinese squadron upon its arrival in Venice and then Florence, a bit of background is necessary on the aims of the Xuan De emperor for whom Grand Eunuch Zheng He served as ambassador to Europe A Xuan De imperial order dated June 29, 1430, stated: …Everything is prosperous and renewed but the Foreign Countries distantly located beyond the sea, still had not heard and did not know For this reason Grand Directors Zheng He, Wang Jinghong and others were specially sent, bearing the word, to go and instruct them into deference and submission… The first three chapters of this book describe the two years of preparations in China and Indonesia to fulfill that order, which required launching and provisioning the greatest fleet the world had ever seen for a voyage across the world Chapter explains how the Chinese calculated longitude without clocks and latitude without sextants—prerequisites for drawing accurate maps of new lands Chapters and describe how the fleet left the Malabar Coast of India, sailed to the canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea, then down the Nile into the Mediterranean Some have argued that no Chinese records exist to suggest that Zheng He’s fleets ever left the Indian Ocean Chapters and document the many records in China, Egypt, Dalmatia, Venice, Florence, and the Papal States describing the fleets’ voyage In chapter 21 I discuss the immense transfer of knowledge that took place in 1434 between China and Europe This knowledge originated with a people who, over a thousand years, had created an advanced civilization in Asia; it was given to Europe just as she was emerging from a millennium of stagnation following the fall of the Roman Empire The Renaissance has traditionally been portrayed as a rebirth of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome It seems to me the time has come to reappraise this Eurocentric view of history While the ideals of Greece and Rome played an important role in the Renaissance, I submit that the transfer of Chinese intellectual capital to Europe was the spark that set the Renaissance ablaze The internet has revolutionized the historian’s profession, and though it is not necessary for readers to visit the 1434 website, it does contain a great deal of additional information about China’s role in the Renaissance On occasion in the text, I make reference to specific subjects that are discussed in greater detail on the website I believe that many will find this interesting The 1421 website has also become a forum for discussion, and I hope the same will be true for 1434 When you have read the book, please tell us whether you agree with its conclusions Gavin Menzies New York July 17, 2007 I Setting the Scene Mauro, Fra, 73, 89 Maya, the, 260, 279, 287 Mayer, Simon, 250 Mayor of Zalamea, The (Calderón de la Barca), 282 Ma Zheng, 19 McGee, Timothy J., 88 McMillan, Hamilton, 242 Mecca, 23, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52, 56 Mechanical Problems, The, 187 Medici, Cosimo de’, 89, 90, 205 Medici, Giovanni de’, 87, 88, 93 Medici, Lorenzo de’, 90, 117 Medici family, 87–88, 89–90, 93, 157, 158, 200, 204–5, 219, 224 medicine, Arab and Chinese, 237 Medina-Sidonia, duchess of, 240, 242 Mediterranean, xv, 41, 43, 48, 53, 58, 59, 63, 70, 71, 77, 86, 201 Mengxi Bitan (Shen), 231 mensa, 88–89, 158 Menzies, Marcella, xiii, 50, 65, 66, 75, 106, 115, 166, 177, 181, 206, 214, 273 Merchant of Predo, The (Origo), 58 Mesta, the, 282–83 Milan, 89, 166, 201, 210–11, 212, 214–15, 236, 253 Ming dynasty, 4, 5, 8, 9, 18, 19, 24, 37, 45, 54, 64, 132–33, 134, 137, 188, 227, 232–33, 239, 266 Ming Shi-lu, 5, 10, 45, 47, 48, 266 Ming Shi Waigua Zhuan, 47 Mirabilia (Sévérac), 73 mirrors, 183 Misr, 50, 51–52, 53–54 see also Cairo Mithridates II, 197 Mocenigo, Tommaso, 76, 198 Mongols, 5, 6, 54–55, 69, 70, 80, 80, 81–82, 86–87, 135, 221, 269 see also Avars monsoons, 39, 42 moon, 26, 27, 29–38, 43, 90–91, 92, 135, 137, 140, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 243, 250 Morocco, 45 Morrison, Tony, 130 mortars, 16, 174, 221, 222, 223, 253 Mosili, 47 see also Cairo Muhammad, 55 Mui, Rosa, 26, 250 Muiz, Caliph, 51–52 Müller, Johann, 143 see also Regiomontanus München Codex 197, 223 Munoz, Inez, 280 Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera, 271–72 music, 236, 251 muskets, 219 Muslims, 18–19, 23–24, 44, 45, 124 see also Islam Nanjing astronomers in, 35 language school in, 124 navigation from, 6, 33, 36, 37, 39 shipbuilding in, 11 Zheng He 2002 conference at, 239 Zhu Di’s victory at, Narwhal, HMS, 30, 32, 65 Native Americans, 71 see also Indians, North American Natural History (Pliny), 51 Nautical Almanac, 152–53 navigation Arab, 17–19, 40, 154 author’s experience in, 144 Chinese, 17, 18, 27–39, 40–43, 128, 129, 139–40, 149–51, 238, 241, 272 ephemeris tables for, 43, 98, 112, 140, 144–48, 149–53, 164, 187, 237, 243, 244, 245 importance of improved techniques for, 17, 19, 29, 252 inscriptions on charts, vii from Nanjing, 6, 33, 36, 37, 39 Peruvian, 274 printing valuable for, 235–36 “Starry Night” software for, 90, 150–51 sun declination tables for, 72, 138–39, 140, 146–47, 156, 158, 160, 243 Venetian, 72 see also specific navigational tools; specific navigators “Navigator Ahmad Ibn Majid, The” (Lunde), 40 Necho II, pharaoh, 50, 51 Needham, Joseph, 15, 21, 139, 149, 153, 161, 164, 170, 189–90, 197, 203–4, 209, 218, 219, 223, 232–33, 234 Nei Kulan, 132–33 Nelson, Horatio, 41 Newman, Thomas M., 266 New Theory of Planets, A (Peurbach), 143–44 Newton, Sir Isaac, 27, 247, 250 New World, 140, 144, 152, 157, 237, 241, 243, 252 see also America; North America; South America New Zealand, 257–63, 264, 276 Ng Say Tiong, 27 Nicholas of Cusa, 88, 121, 126, 134, 141–42, 143, 145–46, 154, 155, 158, 163, 243, 245, 248, 251, 254 Nicholas V, pope, 158 Nilometer, 52 Noble Spaniard, The (Maugham), 281–82 Nom de l’Amérique, Le (Ronsin), 118 North America Chinese expedition to, 9, 43 Chinese horses in, 252, 277 copper in, 252 Croatian expedition to, 66–67, 70–71, 241–42 maps of, xii, 73–74, 77, 112–13, 128, 129 tsunami in, 266–69 see also America; New World; South America North Pole, 9, 32, 33, 42 see also Arctic Pole Notay, pope, 158 Notebook on Sea Bottom Currents, 17 Notes on the Barbarians, Notes on the Barbarians in the Western Oceans, 47 Novick, Gabriel, 271 Nujun AzZahira Fi Mulek Misr Wal Kahira, Al (Tagri Birdi), 44 Nung Shu, 20–21, 175, 188, 189–94, 195, 197–98, 201–2, 209, 211, 212, 213, 216, 232 oak, 72 observatories, 23, 137, 145, 260, 261 Oliver, John, 34 Olschki, Leonardo, 86–87 Omar Khayyám, 287 Onslaught, HMS, 12 operas, 88 Oregon, Chinese presence, 263–65 Orellana, Francisco de, 280, 281 Oriental Ceramic Society of France, 53 Origo, Iris, 58, 82 Ospedale Maggiore (Filarete), 216 Ottoman Empire, Ottomans, 69, 70, 92 Ozette Archaeological Project Research Reports, 266–67 Pachacuti, 276 Pacific Ocean, 110, 111, 112, 113, 121, 122, 128, 129, 130, 131, 238, 242, 270, 277, 281 Pan Biao, 11 Papal States, xv, 45, 87, 132–33, 134, 205 see also Catholic Church; Jesuits; specific popes parachute, 169, 170, 175, 177–79, 196 Parenti, Marco, 98 Parsons, William, 212 Pascal, Blaise, 15–16 Passaro, Berenzo de, 212 Patagonia, xiii, 67, 101, 130, 131 Paul III, pope, 245 Paulus the Physician, 119 see also Toscanelli, Paolo Payn, Marshall, 34 Pazzi family, 224 pearls, 20, 21, 96, 114, 120, 122, 125, 126, 133 Peckar, Stephen F., 261 Pedro, Dom, king of Portugal, 73, 77, 78, 79, 102, 126 Pelletier, Monique, 127 pepper, 95, 119, 122, 125 Pepys, Samuel, 24 perfume, 57, 58 Perii, Marijana, 69 Persia, Persians, 47, 57, 197, 219 Persian Gulf, 41, 43, 47, 239 perspective, 90, 143, 156–57, 158, 159–63, 165, 176, 195–96, 251, 253 Peru, 252, 269–70, 271–76, 280 Peruzzi family, 74 Peters, Winston, 259 Peter the Great, czar of Russia, 72 Peurbach, 143, 144, 145, 156, 246 Philippines, 68, 102 Pian del Carpine, Giovanni da, 73 Piero Averlino, Antonio di, 216 see also Filarete Pigafetta, Antonio, 102 pigs, 215, 262, 268, 278 pine, 11, 72 Pinturicchio, 133, 134 Pisa, 84, 89, 165, 204, 248 Pisanello, Antonio, 76, 79–81, 134, 135, 214, 254 Pius II, pope, 133, 134, 205 Pizarro, Francisco, 253, 272, 273, 274, 275, 278, 280, 281, 287 Pizarro family, 278, 280, 282, 283 Pizzigano, Zuane, 73, 151 planets, 26, 27, 29–38, 135, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153–54, 157, 159, 243, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 253 see also Jupiter Plato, 57 Pliny, 51 plumb lines, 16 Polaris, 26, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 42, 43 Pollux, 43 Polo, Bellela, 129 Polo, Marco, 65, 73, 77, 79, 95, 103, 120, 122–23, 124–25, 126, 128, 129, 171–72, 207 Polo, Niccolò, 73, 95, 120, 123 polynyas, 32 Ponce de León, Juan, 238 Poole, Stanley Lane, 46–47, 51 porcelain, 40, 44, 52, 53–54, 81, 266, 267 Pordenone, Odoric of, 73 Portugal, Portuguese, 104, 115, 121, 127, 239, 240, 241, 242–43, 284, 287 potatoes, 276 Powers, Major, 265 Prager, Frank D., 182, 183 Prazak, Charles, 242 “Pre-Columbian Discovery of America, The” (Cortesão), 241 Prehispanic Cultures of Peru (Machedo), 274 printing, 125, 145, 174–75, 188, 231–37, 252, 253 Profiles of Foreign Countries, 134 Promis, Carlo, 180 Ptolemy, 51, 132, 139, 141, 142, 143, 145, 147, 153, 154, 159, 164, 176, 243, 244, 247, 249 Puerto Rico, 106, 126, 151 Pula, 133 Pulau Rondo, 37, 42 Qin dynasty, 48 Qing dynasty, 47 Quanzhou, 40, 46, 124, 174 Raban Sauma (Odoric), 73 Ramusio, Giambattista, 73 Raspadura Canal, 130 Reconquista, the, 281, 282, 284–85, 286 Records of Journeys to the Western Region, Records on Tributes from Western Oceans, 47 Redmount, Carol A., 50 Red Sea, 39–48, 77, 239 Red Sea–Nile canal, 45, 48–59, 70 Regiomontanus, 97–98, 101, 108, 112, 114, 118, 121, 134, 138, 139, 140, 142–54, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 163, 164, 165, 238, 243–48, 251, 254 Reid, Anthony, 11 remainder theorum, Chinese, 147–49, 161 René II, duke of Lorraine, 115, 116, 117, 118 Reti, Ladislao, 179–81 Revolutionibus orbium coelestieum, De (Copernicus), 245, 246 Ribero, Diego, 272, 275 rice, 199, 201–4, 205, 209, 214, 252, 253, 257, 267 Richard, Helene, 127 Ringman, Matthias, 117 Roberti, Ercole, 76 rockets, 221, 222, 253 Rodrigues, Francisco, 239 Rodriguez Cabrillo, Juan, 263 Rogers, F M., 77, 78–79 Roman Empire, Romans, xv–xvi, 85, 132, 176, 187, 201, 253, 254 Rome, 52, 86, 87, 134, 158, 164, 182, 204, 213 Ronsin, Albert, 115, 117–18, 127 Roriz, Martinez de, 94 Rorqual, HMS, 12, 81 Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María, 273, 274 Royal Navy, 12, 14, 138, 152 Rubruck, William of, 73 Ruggiero, Marino, 242 Ruiz, Bartholome, 274 sacrifice, ritual, 275 sailors, 20 Saint Mark’s Basilica, 64, 75–76, 77 Saladin, 54–55 Salvestrini family, 181 San Antonio, xi Sandaucourt, Jean-Basin de, 117 San Lorenzo, Church of, 89, 90, 91, 92–93, 137, 159, 160 Santa Maria del Fiore, Cathedral of, 83–84, 92–93, 136, 137–38, 140, 155, 158 Santiago, Order of, 284–85 Santinello, Giovanni, 158 Santini, Paolo, 223 Scaglia, Gustina, 182, 183, 186–87 Scaglieri family, 214 Schöner, Johannes, xii, 98, 99–100, 101, 103–4, 107–8, 109, 110, 112–14, 121, 131, 165 Schroeter, J Fr., 152 Scott, Captain, 131 Self, A G., 98 Sesostris, 51 Sévérac, Jordan de, 73 Seville Cathedral, 151 Sforza, Francesco, 210–11, 212 Sforza, Galeazzo, 201 Shah Rokh, Shan Hai Ching Kuang Chu, 171 Shanhai Yudi Quantu, 128, 129, 130 Shapiro, Sheldon, 202–3 Sheban, 19 sheep, 278, 282, 285 Shen Kua, 209, 231, 232 Shih Hsu Pai, 220–21 ships, shipbuilding Arab, 81 astrologers and geomancers on, 41 Chinese, 11–15, 39–40, 41–42, 273–74 in Chinese ports, 40, 95, 119 designs of, 183, 236–37 in Florence, 84 from India, 39–40 interpreters on, 15, 16, 41 locks for, 196, 202, 204, 207–9, 211–14, 253 Spanish, 286 in Venetian ports, 74–75 weapons on, 220–21, 222, 224, 227 see also boat, paddle-wheel; junks, Chinese; specific ships Shu-shu Chiu-chang, 16, 148–49, 161, 162–63 Shu Xian, 47 Shuyu Zhouzi Lu (Yan), 18, 133 Siderius nuncius [Starry messenger] (Galileo), 249 silk, 40, 44, 46, 52, 57, 65, 73, 74, 76, 81, 87, 197–201, 204–5, 214, 272, 275 Silk Road, 69 silver from the Andes, 253, 274, 275, 284 in Cairo markets, 55, 57 Chinese trade in, 197 as currency, 19, 133, 134 gold and, 115 in Saint-Dié, 115 Sima Qian, 169 Simocatta, Theophylactis, 132 sine tables, 143, 243–44 Sixtus V, pope, 224 slaves, female, 20, 45, 46, 68, 70, 81, 82, 86–87 Soderini, Gonfalier Pier, 117 solar system, 90–91, 157, 159, 176, 243, 245 see also specific parts of the solar system Song dynasty, 15, 22, 46, 134, 219, 220 South America Asian chickens in, 252 Croatian expedition to, 67 Guadelupe Virgin image in, 284 Incas in, 287 Magellan’s expedition to, 101, 130 maps of, 77, 103, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 127, 128, 129, 238, 242 snails from, 252 sweet potatoes from, 252 wrecked Chinese junks in, 269–77 see also America; New World; North America Southern Cross, 240 South Pole, 131 Souza Tavares, Francis de, 78 Spain, Spanish, 253, 278–88 Spencer, John, 216–17 Speyer, Johanne von, 235 Spice Islands, 130, 239, 240 spices, 57, 58, 65, 74, 94, 95, 97, 119, 120, 122, 125, 240 Spini family, 87 squares, 15, 16 Sri Lanka, 38, 40, 42 “Starry Night” (software), 90, 150–51 stars, 27–28, 29–38, 42, 43, 90–91, 92, 93, 108, 135, 137, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 157, 243, 247 steel, 14, 214, 216–19, 223, 227, 252 Steele, Harvey, 266 Stock, Manuel, 240 Strabo, 51 Strozzi family, 89 Sui dynasty, 207, 231 Sumatra, 42 sun, 25–26, 27, 29–38, 43, 90–91, 92, 135, 137–39, 140, 141, 142, 145, 146–48, 149, 150, 151, 153–54, 156, 158, 159, 160, 243, 245, 246, 247, 248, 253 sundials, 145 Sung dynasty, 54, 168, 169, 221, 226 surveying, 16, 149, 157, 159, 163, 164–65, 183 sweet potatoes, 252 Swerdlow, Noel M., 245, 246, 247 Tabula (Regiomontanus), 108 Tabulae diretorium (Copernicus), 244 Taccola, Mariano di Jacopo “the Jackdaw,” 181–87 Alberti and, 158, 212, 213 on Chinese inventions, 161, 163, 164, 189–94, 202–3, 204, 209, 211, 216, 222, 223, 224, 226, 227, 254 di Georgio and, xiv, 182, 184–87, 211, 212 Leonardo da Vinci and, xiv, 195–96, 212 Tafur, Piero, 44 Taicang stele, 9, 13 Tai Peng Wang, xiii, 17, 27–28, 37, 40, 42, 45, 132 Talks at Fisherman’s Rock (Shih), 220–21 Tamburlaine, 54 Tang dynasty, 8, 9, 54, 197, 206, 207, 219, 231 Tang Xiren, 37, 42 Ta-Yen rule, 148–49, 161 Tazi merchant, 46 teak, 11 telescope, 145, 249, 250 Tello, Julio, 273 Temple, Robert, 207, 221 theft, 57 Thompson, Gunnar, 66, 128, 129 Tian Wen Shu, 18 Tibet, 77, 82, 207 Tierra del Fuego, 126, 131, 279 time, Chinese calculation of, 36–37 Times Atlas of World Exploration, The, xii torquetum, 34, 140, 142, 143, 145, 154, 158 Toscanelli, Paolo, xiv, 83, 88, 89, 90, 93, 94–100, 101, 104, 107, 109, 113, 114, 118–26, 127, 128, 130, 134, 136–40, 142, 143, 147, 149, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 164, 182, 238, 242, 243, 248, 251, 254 Trattato manuscripts, 179–80, 181, 193, 195, 203, 204, 211 Travels of the Infante, Dom Pedro of Portugal, The (Rogers), 77–78 trebuchet, 225 triangles, right-angle, 16 trigonometry, 15, 16, 18, 26, 136, 143, 147, 158, 163, 183, 244 Tso Chuan, 167 tsunami, 259–68, 269–70, 276–77 Tsunami: The Underrated Hazard (Bryant), 259–60 Tupac Yupanqui, 273, 275, 276 Tuscany, 20, 82, 86–87, 157, 200, 224 see also Florence Uhle, Max, 273 Ulugh Begh, 139 Uzielli, Gustavo, 98, 121, 147 Valdivia, Pedro de, 280 Vancouver, George, 265 Vancouver Island, 74, 264–66, 267, 268–69 Vecci, Giustizieri, 235 Veneziano, Antonio, 76 Venice, Venetians, 77–82 Alexandria route to, 69, 70, 71, 72–73 Chinese female slaves in, 68 Chinese trade with, 38, 73, 242–43 Croatian coast controlled by, 241–42 DNA of, 69, 71 Eugenius IV born in, 96 Florence and, 86, 198 galleys built and manned by, 41, 71–72 Ottoman navy defeated by, 92 patent law in, 200–201 Piedmont and, 215 printing in, 234–37 silk industry in, 200–201, 204 spice trade with, 58 wealth of, 64–65, 74–76, 85, 157 see also specific sites; specific Venetians Verona, 76, 79, 80, 198, 199, 200, 214–15 Vespucci, Amerigo, 38, 89, 112, 117–18, 127, 129, 130, 139, 140, 151, 152, 243 Vicenza, 76, 198, 200 Vienna, Austrian National Library in, 108 Viracocha, emperor of the Incas, 280 Visconti, Filippo, 210 Visconti family, 89 Vitruvius, 187 Waldseemüller, Martin, xi, xii, 99, 103, 106–7, 110–28, 129, 165, 238, 265 Walther, Bernard, 108 Wang Chen, 168, 188, 201 Wang Gui, 19 Wang Heng, 13 Wang Jinghong, xv, 7, 13, 43 Wang Qi, 129 Wang Zhen, 232 Washington Potters, 268 water clock, Chinese, 36–37 water levels, 16 weapons, 21, 41, 45–46, 171–74, 175, 182, 187, 219–30, 237, 253 see also specific weapons weavers, weaving, 134, 200 Wertime, Theodore A., 217–18 wheat, 52, 201 White, Lynn, 82, 177 Whyte, Adele, 258–59 Wieser, Franz Von, 66 Wollongong University, 260, 261 wool, 86, 87, 200, 275, 280, 282 wrecks, of Chinese junks, 10 on American west coast, 263–64, 266–70 in Australia, 262–63 in Japan, xiv, 221 machines for lifting, xiv in New Zealand, 257, 258, 259–62 in Western Canada, 263–65 Wu-ching Tsung-yao, 21, 204, 226 Wu Ti, 197 Wu Zheng, 19 Wu Zhong, 13 Xheng He, 123–24 Xia Yuanji, Xi Feilong, 37, 42 Xi Longfei, 10 Ximénes, Leonardo, 138 Xiyu Shu, 18 Xi Zezong, 26, 250 Xuan De, emperor of China, xiii, xv, 6, 7, 8, 14, 19, 20, 22, 24, 41–42, 45, 81, 124, 235, 265–66 Xuanzong Shi-lu, Yan Congjian, 18, 133 Yang, emperor of China, 207 Yang Xi, 37, 42 Yang Yao, 22 Yang Zhen, 13 Yen, Prince of, see also Zhu Di, emperor of China Yongle, 4, 17 see also Zhu Di, emperor of China Yongle Dadian, 14–16, 164, 233 Yoshamya, Mitjel, 67, 68 You Ton, 47 Yuan dynasty, 4, 17, 18, 23, 24, 54, 129, 132, 135, 220, 232, 268 Yuan shi-lu, 24, 135 Yu Lizi, 132 Yung Lo, 54, 266 see also Zhu Di, emperor of China Zaiton, 95, 119, 122 Zatta, Antonio, 74, 265 Zhang Da, 13 Zhang Xing Gang, 48 Zhanzon, emperor of China, 220 Zhao Ruqua, 46, 134 Zheng Ah Li, 18 Zheng He achievements of, 7–8, 9–10 as ambassador, bearing gifts, 19–20, 24, 27, 28, 238, 241 America expedition, 71, 129–31, 239 Arabs and, 40 astronomical knowledge imparted by, 243 Cairo expedition, 42, 47, 48, 55, 56, 57, 59, 72 2002 conference on, 239 Conti and, 44, 79 on Dalmatian coast, 65, 66, 67, 70 death of, 43 fleet destroyed by a tsunami, 257, 258–77 fleet preparations, 3–4, 6, 10–14, 134 Florence expedition, 70, 123–24, 134–35, 161, 176, 197, 233 in Hormuz, 48 India journey, 42, 43–44 language school established by, 124 Ma Huan historian of, 43–44, 79 in Mecca, 47 as a Muslim, 18–19, 45, 56, 124 navigational aids of, 17, 18, 27–28, 37–38, 40, 42–43, 128, 129, 139–40, 149–51, 238, 241, 272 pope and, 123–24, 134–35, 243 printing during time of, 40, 187–88, 233, 235–36 religious tolerance observed by, 124 route of, 42–43 silk during the time of, 197 sponsorship of, xv, 4, 6, 7, 9–10 tomb of, 80 Venice expedition, 70, 71, 75, 81, 209, 222, 223, 235–36 weapons on ships of, 41, 222, 223 Yongle Dadian and, 15–16, 164, 233 Zhou Man, 13 Zhou Xin Yan, 26, 250 Zhu Di, emperor of China, xiii, 3, 4–5, 14, 15, 17, 19, 24, 45, 47, 54, 80, 124, 132, 133, 134, 232–33, 265–66 Zhufan Zhi (Zhao), 134 Zhu Gaozhi, 5–6 Zhu Liang, 13 Zhu Siben, 125, 128 Zhu Zhanji, emperor of China, 6, 41–42, 135 see also Xuan De, emperor of China Zhu Zhen, 13 Zinner, Ernst, 98, 149, 150, 153–54, 243, 244, 245 Zonghua, 47 Zuilkarnain, 48 About the Author The author of 1421: The Year China Discovered America, GAVIN MENZIES was born in England and lived in China for two years before the Second World War He joined the Royal Navy in 1953 and served in submarines from 1959 to 1970 Since leaving the Royal Navy, he has returned to China and Asia many times, and in the course of his research, he has visited 120 countries, more than 900 museums and libraries, and every major seaport of the late Middle Ages Menzies is married with two daughters and lives in North London www.GavinMenzies.net Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author ALSO BY GAVIN MENZIES 1421: The Year China Discovered America Credits Jacket illustration of helicopter by Leonardo da Vinci © Bulloz/ Réunion des musées nationaux/Art Resource, NY Copyright 1434 Copyright © 2008 by Gavin Menzies All rights reserved under International and PanAmerican Copyright Conventions By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books EPub © Edition MAY 2008 ISBN: 9780061983245 10 About the Publisher Australia HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd 25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321) Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au Canada HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Bloor Street East - 20th Floor Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca New Zealand HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited P.O Box Auckland, New Zealand http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz United Kingdom HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77-85 Fulham Palace Road London, W6 8JB, UK http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk United States HarperCollins Publishers Inc 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com .. .1434 The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance Gavin Menzies This book is dedicated to my beloved wife,... discussion, and I hope the same will be true for 1434 When you have read the book, please tell us whether you agree with its conclusions Gavin Menzies New York July 17, 2007 I Setting the Scene... Bibliography Permissions Photograph Credits Searchable Terms About the Author Other Books by Gavin Menzies Credits Copyright About the Publisher INTRODUCTION One thing that greatly puzzled me